Amphictyony

Anficonic law of Delfos. Penthelic marble, centuryIVa. C., from Egina. The back of the trail was sawn; the lower and right parts are mutilated; the trail broke into two fragments now joined.

The amphictiony (in Greek ἀμφικτυονία, but there must have been a form with iota ἀμφικτιονία, as can be seen in the derivative ἀμφικτίονες together with the more frequent ἀμφικτ ύονες Lit. compound of αμφί 'both' + κτίζω 'build') or amphictionic league was an originally religious league of Greek tribes. The best known is the Delphic Amphictyony, which grouped twelve tribes (not cities), almost all of them from central Greece.

Initially it held its meetings in the sanctuary of Demeter in Antela, near Thermopylae. The assembly held here was called Pilea and each tribe sent a "pylagoras". another sanctuary. They met twice a year, alternating Delphi with Antela. When it was founded, it had a purely religious character, but little by little it changed to end up being truly political, with great influence on decisions of this nature.

Members

Initially the Thessalians, Boeotians, Achaeans of Phthiotis, Dolops, Enians (or Aetians), Magnetans, Dorians, Ionians, Locros, Melians, Phocidians and Perrebios had representatives.

Subsequently there were some changes. After the Third Holy War, the Kingdom of Macedonia became a member instead of the Phocidians, who had provoked the war, and the Lacedaemonians were separated from the Dorians, for having supported the Phocidians.

Later, in the time of Augustus, Nicopolis became one of the members, while the Magnetans, Melians, Pthiotis Achaeans, and Enians joined with the Thessalians and the Votes of the Dolops, who no longer existed as a people they passed to the Nicopolites.

In the time of Pausanias there were thirty hieromnemones (councillors). The Thessalians, Macedonians, and Nicopolitans provided six each; the Boeotians, Phocidians, and Delphians, two each; and the Dorians, Ozolan Locros, Oriental Locros, Euboeans, Peloponnesians, and Athenians, one each.

Functions

Among the functions of the amphictyony were the administration of the temple of Apollo at Delphi and the organization of the Pythian Games. In addition, an oath agreed to punish anyone who participated in the appropriation of a sacred object and prohibited the members of the amphictyony from blocking the currents of water and from going to war.

On the other hand, in order to maintain hegemony in the administration of the Delphic temple, the League fought in three of the sacred wars that took place and were somehow unleashed by the members of the amphictyony.

The first (595–585 BC) was against the city of Cirra, on Phocis. The Third Holy War of 356 B.C. C. caused an important change, because on that occasion the focidios sacked the temple of Apollo of Delphi, and the amphictyony requested help from the Kingdom of Macedonia to collaborate in the fight. When in 346 a. C. the Macedonians defeated the focidios, the votes of Fócida were delivered to Macedonia, which had serious consequences later. During the fourth war (from 339 BC to 338 BC) Philip II of Macedonia took advantage of his position in the League and ended up dominating political and military issues in the Greek towns. The amphictyony continued to exist but only to attend to purely religious matters; Such a situation persisted during the rule of Alexander the Great and his successors, and even during the first centuries of the Roman domination of Greece, beginning in the II a. c.; soon after the amphictyony was effectively dissolved.

Other amphictynies

• In Argólide there was another amphiction that met in the temple of Poseidon de Calauria.
• In Asia Minor, the Ionian League met in Mine, in the sanctuary of Poseidon Helicon; the Dorians gathered in the shrine of Apollo of Cnido, and the Eolios had another amphiction in the shrine of Apollo of Grinio.